The Survival Guide To High School
by xx Ms. Fortune xx
Summary: Twenty Simple Rules You Need To Follow To Succeed, Good Luck Uzumaki


Naruto belongs to Kishimoto

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**The Survival Guide To High Schoo**l  
**Chapter 1**

_... There was once a princess, who lived in a castle, high above the streets of an enchanted kingdom.  
The Queen was long gone but she left her with a treasure, so she would stay a princess forever..._

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Blue eyes slowly opened, feeling the warm morning sun swallow her from the curtain-less window. She stared around at the room she had lived in all her life. Everything was so different when it was empty of any furniture. Every portrait, every single thing she owned, had been put away in boxes and now waited on a corner of the living room for the movers.

She was gonna miss this place, even if it held too many painful memories. It had been a week since the small quiet funeral composed of her mothers friends who were helping through the 'hard time', as the tall brunette with sharp eyes had told her as he patted her on the back sympathetically. What was his name again?

His wife had tried to be helpful as well. She tended to her. She offered to take her shopping to distract her, her efforts in vain when Naru locked herself in her room and refused to come out.

All she wanted was her mother. She didn't want all these strangers in her house trying to tell her what to do, and how to feel. Hell, she didn't _know_ how to feel at the moment. She felt angry, sad, lonely, confused, jealous, guilty, scared... _lost_. How could someone feel so many things at once? That couldn't be possible right? They'd explode! It was frustrating! It was hard to make sense of it all.

She could only administer the rage... something unlike she had ever felt before. All her other emotions were wrapped up into one big ball, coming out at the same time that only rage could suppress it with the feeling of wanting to destroy everything around her.

"Are you ready?" The soft tenor voice of Itachi Uchiha, who was sent to help, brought her out of her musings. He shifted the big box on his arms and gazed awkwardly, "We need to hit the road if you want to make it there by Monday."

Naru nodded at him and turned back, trying to memorize every nook and cranny of the room she would never step foot into again. A knot at the back of her throat made its presence known. She gulped down hard, trying to make it go away.

It seemed like a nightmare. Three weeks ago, her Father met her in the hospital. Standing grimly next to the daughter he hadn't been next to since the divorce, ten years before. Next to him, was another man, his arm around a woman, with eye bags and red eyed. The Uchihas, Naru presumed, her mother and fathers closest friends.

Looking back at it now, she found it funny how a simple phrase like, 'I'm sorry' could sound full of heartbreak. It scared her a bit. She had never heard her anyone use that tone of utter defeat. It was almost like he wasn't himself. Like all happiness, and longing to live, had been drained from him. His blue eyes weren't shining with that mysterious glint they usually shown, and the worst was, he couldn't cry even though she noticed how much he wanted to. He had to be the strong one at this point, so she could have someone to hold her during this time.

What could she say to comfort him when she desperately needed comforting too?

_She's gone._ The doctor's voice seem to ring over and over again as her father hugged her tightly. Feeling the strong arms around her warmed her a bit, and then the worst happened, she cried until she could no longer shed tears.

She couldn't help but feel weak and useless. She couldn't save her mother.

A part of her wanted to see him cry, so he would feel better, and another didn't. It was a mixture of emotions she had never felt before. And most of all, she didn't want to believe that her mother was dead. It felt like those times when you didn't know if you were dreaming or awake

She half expected her mother to jump into the dining room and yell 'April Fools!', knowing full well it was the middle of July. Naru's happy world had collapsed, and been replaced with this fake one, where it was only a father she barely knew and herself.

Everything just seemed so... _unreal_ - because this things did not happen to good people. And her mother was a good person who never wished harm to fall on others. She always knew the right things to say at the right moment. She was always there for her and anyone in need. She always seemed to glow with unbarred passion for art and music despite being a veterinarian. Her explosive personality and blunt mannerism were why so many loved her. Growing up, kids would always tell her she was the coolest parent, leaving Naru feeling proud that she was her mother.

Her mother was - no, had been, she needed to get used to that - _perfect_.

A warm sensation made her jump, she smiled, looking down at the fox, the size of a small dog, as it rubbed its head against her leg. She gently bent down to pick him up, at which it made a purr-like sound at being held so lovingly. "We have to go, Kyuubi-sama. Are you ready?" She asked, not caring how foolish she might sound talking to an animal.

The fox sprung from her arms and into the hall, where it came back with a small chew toy. "Okay, then. We better leave before Itachi has a diva moment." She muttered, picking him up again. Kyuubi-sama was her most precious gift. Kushina had said it had been brought into her office, wounded, and with almost zero chances of living. But she nursed it the best she could. She remembered that three months ago, he was only a small orange fur ball that hissed and whimpered at been expose to so much light, but as soon as Naru would touched the baby fox, it would shyly rubbed its cold nose on her fingers and purr.

_And apparently he hasn't lost that habit._ thought Naru as she scratched behind the fox's ears making him wiggle and purr louder. Without looking back, she closed the door and slowly descended down the long stairs; stopping here and there, recalling all the good things that had ever happened.

She was gonna miss this house. From her room to that certain step that creaked to the wide windows that let the sunlight in the kitchen. But it would be too painful for her to stay here any longer. At this point she didn't care that she wouldn't see her acquaintances, she couldn't recall a true friend in her list. No one understood what she was going through. How could they? They still had parents. Everyone pitied her. She was Naru Uzumaki, the girl without a mother. That was all they saw in her now. And when you couldn't tell a real friend from a fake, it was time to go.

With a deep breath, she walked outside to the sunlit morning, where everything was normal, untouched by death, unlike she had been. It seemed almost unfair to hear birds chirping and to see children laughing as they rode their bikes as fast as they could go, carefree and happy.

"Hey." Itachi's voice seemed to come from a long way away, sounding almost like an echo. "Ready to go?"

She raised an eyebrow but remained silent, still staring at the two story house where a FOR SALE sign had been hammered into the front lawn.

_... I know I haven't exactly been there for you..._ She vainly remembered her Father's words in the telephone a week before. _I want you to move in with me. The house is huge and it's usually just me..._

"Yea." Naru replied back to Itachi, "It's just that - " her face blanched, almost as if she had made a mistake, she quickly looked away. she walked back to his SUV. She stared at the house for a second more before he turned the ignition on and began to drive away.


End file.
